It’s budgeting-season again for many business owners. As you’re putting together the budget for your brewery, don’t neglect to include legal expenses. A legal budget gives yourself advanced permission to call us for the legal needs of your brewery. Your brewery’s legal budget should have two parts:
Continue ReadingA pair of bills moving through the Florida Legislature (summarized here) will finally change the antiquated law that limits the container size for beer sold in the state. We can hopefully look forward to taking home a 64 oz growler from our favorite Florida breweries (or ABC Fine Wines & Spirits). Not if that growler is full of cider.
Continue ReadingThe 2014 session of the Florida Legislature is two months from starting, but already two pairs of craft beer bills put growlers and beer tastings on tap. Bills Authorizing Growlers & Tastings SB 406 and HB 283, identical bills in the Florida Senate and Florida House of Representative, would change the craft beer laws in two ways:
Continue ReadingBeverage manufacturers–breweries, wineries, and distilleries–are often the creation of a core group of owners. One of the owners might be the mad-scientist brewer, who loves to create new style-busting beers. Another might be the marketing genius, who believes that a beer can be sold with the right branding and marketing. Still another might be the financier, who knows a...
Continue ReadingWe are always looking for new ways to help brewers make and sell craft beer in Florida. Our latest offering is the Florida Beer Distribution Guide.
Continue ReadingThat’s the claim made by some distributors, as reported in Craft Business Daily. The Sarasota Herald-Tribune’s Alan Shaw (@AlanCShaw) has been at the center of the conversation with his web article and the comments to it. Alan writes: I understand why retailers and distributors are complaining about tasting rooms selling their packaged beer right to consumers, because the brewery...
Continue ReadingBeginning April 30, 2014, the Florida manufacturers will be exempt from Florida’s sales and use tax on the purchase of industrial machinery and equipment used in Florida. To be eligible for the exemption, a manufacturer’s primary activity where the equipment will be located must fall within North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes 31, 32, and 33. NAICS codes 31,...
Continue ReadingAmong the many negative consequences of the October 1, 2013 shutdown of the Federal Government (though not the most tragic) is the furlough of most of the workers at the Federal Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), including the one person who approves labeling for new beers. This means that the TTB cannot approve new beers, including...
Continue ReadingBrewers and breweries in Florida are regulated on both the state and federal levels. In this post, we will discuss the regulation at the state level. Are you interested in opening a winery instead? Florida Brewery Licenses To brew, you need a Florida CMB or CMPB License Brewers in Florida who want to make beer and sell it must...
Continue ReadingReading, writing, and revising complicated business contracts: the central parts of my practice. I am often asked to prepare a written contract my client wants to send to a contract partner or to revise a contract they received from their contract partner. For these situations – there are two words that will help save my clients save money: Term...
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